


Family Meal

by owlmoose



Category: The Defenders (Marvel TV)
Genre: Gen, Post-Canon, Team Bonding, Yuletide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2019-02-16 08:45:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13050540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/owlmoose/pseuds/owlmoose
Summary: Once a month, Danny, Jessica, and Luke gather for dinner at the Chinese restaurant, and they always leave the fourth seat open, just in case.One day, several months later, that seat found its occupant.





	Family Meal

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kyburg](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyburg/gifts).



> Written for Yuletide 2017 as a gift for kyburg, who requested something about the friendships among the team. Set after the first season, implied spoilers for the finale.

Once the Chinese restaurant was rebuilt -- quickly, of course, thanks to Danny's money, and to Luke and Jessica pitching in whenever they had the time -- the three of them gathered on the second Thursday of the month, meeting up for dinner whatever else might be going on in their lives. It took awhile for them to get used to each other -- to Danny rattling off the order in Chinese, to Jessica bringing in a bottle of whisky and sneaking slugs of it into the tea, to Luke taking charge of drinks at the bar after -- but before long they were no longer just teammates who had been thrown together once by fate. They were family. When you live through the end of the world together, you get to be close whether you like each other or not. And every time, they gathered at a table for four, and left one seat empty. Danny always poured an extra cup of tea, and at the end of the night, he lifted his glass toward the fourth chair.

"Maybe next time," he said, just like he did every night.

"Maybe next time." Luke echoed Danny's words and his salute, then drained his teacup.

"Whatever." Jessica shrugged and slammed back her flask, but she also rested her hand on the top the seat as they left the table adjourned to the nearby bar, where Claire, Trish, and Colleen were waiting. (Karen and Foggy had a standing invitation, but they rarely joined the group, although Jessica knew that Trish and Karen often met for lunch. It was mostly just awkward.) 

So it was startling for Luke to walk in one day, eight months after the fight with the Hand, and see that the fourth seat at the table was already filled. He came to an abrupt stop in the doorway, then backed out as quickly as he'd been about to step in, letting the door fall closed in front of him.

"Whoa," he muttered. "When did that happen?"

It was late in the evening -- only a couple of patrons still in the restaurant, staff already beginning to gather for family meal. Luke always felt privileged to be allowed in at this special time, although given how much Danny paid them for the honor, it shouldn't be so surprising. He wondered what the owners and staff made of their errant fourth member, missing for so long.

He was still standing outside the plate glass and staring when Danny and Jessica arrived, at the same time but from opposite directions. "Evening, Luke," Danny said. "Why aren't you waiting inside?"

"Seriously, it's freezing out here." Jessica took a long sip of her coffee; Luke suspected she had added her own warming potion. 

Luke gestured through the window. "See for yourself."

Halfway through her drink, Jessica froze, then slowly lowered the cup; Danny just stared. "What... how?"

"Beats me."

Jessica sighed, then tossed her coffee in a nearby trashcan. "Well, we aren't gonna find out by just staring at him from out here. Come on." She opened the door and stepped into the room.

"Hello Jessica." Matt didn't turn around or rise from his seat as Jessica entered. He was in full-own lawyer drag -- moderately-priced suit, lavender pinstripe tie, briefcase at his feet, sunglasses on. "I'm here for dinner."

"That trick will never stop being creepy," Jessica said. "Also your thing where you seem to know everything without being told. How did you even know we were meeting for dinner tonight?"

Matt shrugged. "You hear things."

"Uh-huh. And where have you been?"

"Let's hold off on that one," Matt replied. "At least for now."

Jessica snorted. "Great. More men of mystery, exactly what I need in my life."

Now he turned toward her, faint smile on his face. "Good to see you too."

"Well, yeah, especially since for all we knew, you were _dead_." Jessica sat down across from him at the table. "Where we left you, we didn't think there was any coming back."

Matt gestured at the table. "And still you left the seat open."

" Just in case." Jessica scooted her seat in and pulled the whiskey out of her bag. "Turns out, we made the right call." She opened the flask and tipped it sideways, in the direction of Matt's nose. "Want some?"

Matt wrinkled his nose and pulled away. "Of whatever that rotgut is? I'll pass, thanks."

Jessica took a long drink, then corked the flask and set it by her plate. "Suit yourself," she said. "We go to the bar after; maybe you can find something more to your taste there." 

"Let's eat first. Are the others ever going to come inside, or are they just going to stand around until they catch cold?"

"Hah." Jessica looked up and through the window at her teammates and waved them in. 

The bell over the door jingled again, and this time Matt stood up and turned around. "Hello Luke, Danny. Glad you could make it."

"You're glad _we_..." Luke shook his head. "What the hell, man. You're alive? Why didn't you send word?"

"Because I couldn't." Matt stepped back from the table as Danny and Luke took their seats, then sat back down. "And I still can't tell you much."

Danny opened his mouth to respond, then stopped as the waiter approached, menu pad in one hand, pot of tea in the others. Danny rattled off an order of half a dozen dishes, then glanced to Matt. "Anything in particular you'd like?"

Matt shook his head. "I'm sure whatever you usually get is fine."

"Okay." Danny said a few words in Chinese to the waiter, who nodded and then poured four cups of tea before heading to the kitchen. "I was about to ask where you'd been, how you got back, but I suppose that's off the table too."

"Sorry." Matt grimaced. "Keeping secrets from my friends and teammates has gotten me in trouble in the past. And I want to be better. But now isn't the time. As soon as I can, I promise."

"Whatever," Jessica said with a shrug. "You don't owe us anything. Foggy and Karen, that might be a different story. But that's your business." 

Matt exhaled. "Yeah."

Jessica glanced sideways at him. "They know you're back yet?" He glanced away, and she snorted. "Keeping secrets, right. Again, your business. Unless something happens to make it ours."

"That's fair." Matt picked up his tea and blew on it before taking a quick sip. "So. What's been happing in Hell's Kitchen while I've been gone?"

"Lots of clean-up, as you might imagine," Luke said. "Starting with what was left of The Hand..."

\---

"It's nice to have the opportunity to actually eat here," Matt commented as he used chopsticks to lift a dumpling out of the steamer basket. "The last time I visited, all we did was destroy the place." He dunked it in soy sauce, then popped the whole thing in his mouth, an expression of satisfaction on his face. 

"I wouldn't say _we_ destroyed it." Danny emptied the communal soup bowl into his smaller one. "We weren't exactly making the first move."

Jessica speared the last dumpling with a chopstick; Danny winced, and she grinned at him. "Yeah, well, you still paid for the renovations."

"Of course." Danny took a delicate sip of his soup. "It's not like we can send a bill to The Hand. And we do bear some level of responsibility."

Luke lifted his teacup in salute. "You're learning."

Danny nodded. "Thanks to you." Luke shrugged. "No, truly. I've spent too much of my life not truly appreciating the privilege that my family name and wealth has brought to me. You and Colleen have done more than anyone to show me how much that matters, and how important it is that I spend that capital wisely." 

"I'm glad to hear it," Matt said softly. "It sounds like you've grown a great deal in a short time."

"I hope so," Danny replied. "Though I still have a distance to go."

"You can say that again." Luke bumped his shoulder with a chuckle; Danny carefully tilted his bowl to keep any soup from sloshing out, then shot Luke a glare. Luke laughed again. "Tell me I'm wrong. Also, nice moves there."

Danny shrugged. "I'd have no right to call myself the Iron Fist if I couldn't pull that off."

Jessica raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah?" In one move, she slid backwards, jostled the tabletop with her hands, and kicked Danny's chair under the table. With a small yelp, Danny rocked sideways and back. He released the sides of the bowl, letting it balance in the palm of his hand. It tipped alarmingly far forward, but still no soup spilled. Jessica crossed her arms and nodded. "Okay, now I'm officially impressed."

Danny fixed his glare on Jessica and shook his head. "I'd like to see you try it."

"Are you kidding?" Jessica raised an eyebrow. "Need a bowl crushed, or tossed at someone's head, call me. But I'll leave the fancy balancing acts to you and Murdock." She shot a sardonic glance at Matt. "Bet you're so glad you came back to all this."

Matt smiled briefly, and then his expression faded into seriousness. "Believe me, I am. I wouldn't miss this again for the world."

"I hope you mean that." Luke lowered his eyes. "People have missed you too, you know."

Matt winced, and then he lifted his chin, approximately meeting Luke's gaze. "I know," he murmured. "And I'll tell them. Soon."

"Tonight soon enough?" Jessica leaned over to check Danny's watch; it was nearly 11pm. "We're almost due to meet the others at the bar. Foggy and Karen have a standing invitation to join us; they don't usually come, but I bet they'd make an exception if they knew."

Matt breathed deeply, and let out the air slowly. "I have no real reason not to, don't I." 

Luke folded his hands on the table. "You really don't."

"All right." Matt laid his hands on the table and breathed a few more times before pulling the phone out of his left breast pocket. "They know where to go?"

Jessica nodded, then remembered that, for all Matt's perceptivity, a nod would communicate nothing to him. "Yep," she said. "We always go to the same place."

Matt stood up and took a few steps away from the table. "Siri, call Foggy." He ducked into a booth, and the rest of the team leaned in, giving him a private moment and themselves an opportunity to talk.

"I kind of can't believe that worked," Jessica said, under her breath.

Luke shook his head. "If it hadn't, I'd've had some strong words for him. Or maybe even called Karen myself."

Jessica shuddered. "Man, would I ever stay out of the middle of that one."

"You would," Luke agreed. "Ultimately, I suppose I would've too, but it'd be hard. They're part of the extended family, you know? I don't feel a responsibility to them, exactly, but..."

"But you care." Danny finished the sentence with a nod before drinking the last of his broth. "And you're right, it wouldn't be fair for them to be kept in the dark. But it's a relief that we didn't need to take Matt's decision away from him."

"Yeah." Luke glanced back at Matt. "Well, whatever happens with them, I'm glad to have him back."

Jessica looked at Matt again, at the hunch of his shoulders as he quietly talked to Foggy, and decided that she agreed. Weird as it was, their team had never felt quite complete without him. Hopefully he'd stick around.


End file.
